NFL proposes to end race-based adjustments in dementia testing

 The NFL has filed a proposed deal to end
race-based adjustments in dementia testing in the $1 billion settlement of
concussion claims to a federal judge on Wednesday. Critics have said that race-based
adjustments made it difficult for Black retirees to qualify for awards.

The revised
testing plan follows public outrage over the use of “race-norming,” a
practice that came to light only after two former NFL players filed a civil
rights lawsuit over it in 2019. The adjustments, critics say, may have
prevented hundreds of Black players suffering from dementia to win awards that
average $500,000 or more.

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The Black
retirees will now have the chance to have their tests rescored or, in some
cases, seek a new round of cognitive testing, according to the settlement, according
to a report by The New York Times.

“No
race norms or race demographic estimates — whether Black or white — shall be
used in the settlement program going forward,” the settlement filed in a
federal court said.

The
proposal follows months of closed-door negotiations between the NFL, class
counsel for retired players, and lawyers for the Black players who filed suit,
Najeh Davenport and Kevin Henry. The proposal has to be reviewed by a federal
judge before it can be implemented.

The vast
majority of the league’s players — 70% of active players and more than 60% of
living retirees — are Black. So the changes are expected to be significant and
potentially costly for the NFL.

To date,
the fund has paid out $821 million for five types of brain injuries, including
early and advanced dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and Lou Gehrig’s disease, also
known as ALS.

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Lawyers for
the Black players suspect that white men were qualifying for awards at two or
three times the rate of Blacks. It’s unclear whether a racial breakdown of
payouts will ever be done or made public.

Black NFL
retiree Ken Jenkins and others have asked the Civil Rights Division of the
Justice Department to open an inquiry. The first payouts were awarded in 2017.
The fund, now uncapped, is intended to last for 65 years, to cover anyone
retired at the time it was first approved.

To date,
about 2,000 men have applied for dementia awards, but only 30% have been
approved. In some cases, the NFL appealed payouts awarded to Black men if
doctors did not apply the racial adjustment. The new plan would forbid any
challenges based on race.

(With AP inputs)